Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Chase in Credit Card Rate Hikes Case

Washington, DCThe Supreme Court recently ruled that Chase Bank USA could legally implement credit card rate hikes on a man's card without notifying him, The Associated Press reports.

span itemprop="image" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/ImageObject" style="display:block">The court ruled against James A. McCoy, who claimed that Chase had retroactively increased his interest rate after he defaulted. He claimed that regulations prohibit credit card companies from doing that because Chase did not tell him until after the increase was implemented.

After a lower court had thrown out the lawsuit, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor agreed with the ruling, explaining that the Federal Reserve Board's interpretation of the rules did not require the company to notify him.

"In the board's view, Chase was not required to give McCoy notice of the interest rate increase," she said in the decision.

According to the Washington Times, McCoy filed the lawsuit in 2006, well before the Federal Reserve Board established rules in 2009 that required credit card companies to give 45 days notice for increases that come as a result of default.